A Secret Comfort
by The Yank and The Brit
Summary: This is a ‘what if' scene extension filler to show what might have happened if Stephanie and Ranger had woken up earlier on that second night at Steph’s apartment in “Twelve Sharp” and had a little more time before Joe arrived to interrupt.


**Disclaimer:** The characters from the world of Stephanie Plum are the sole property of the very talented author: Janet Evanovich. I only borrowed them and do not wish to make money off of them. This story, however, is copyrighted to the mentioned author. This story is for entertainment purposes ONLY.

**Summary: **This is a 'what' if story to show what might have happened if Stephanie and Ranger had woken up earlier on that second night at Steph's apartment in "Twelve Sharp" and had a little more time before Joe arrived to interrupt.

Thanks to AmyF, my wonderful partner in crime for beta'ing this little piece for me.

**Rating: **R

**A Secret Comfort**

**By JanG**

Something woke me up. I lay there for a moment trying to figure out what was different. It was still dark so it wasn't daylight that had awoken me. Then my pillow moved. Wait. My pillow moved? It was warm and smelled of Bulgari. It smelled of warm Ranger. It felt like warm Ranger too. Then I remembered that I couldn't get to sleep on the couch so I had moved back to my bed and hadn't wanted to go back for my pillow. Ranger had become my pillow. I sighed contentedly. This was nice. I snuggled closer to that warm wall of muscle that had me cocooned in its arms.

Ranger's arms tightened slightly around me and pulled me even closer.

"Mmm. Morning"

"It's early, Babe. Go back to sleep."

I opened my eyes slightly and was confronted with the sight of his neck just inches in front of me; I couldn't help myself, my hormones took over and I had to do it. So I ignored my better instincts and just did it. My tongue darted out and licked the beard roughened skin. Yum.

"If you do that again, Steph, I won't be responsible for my actions," Ranger growled, his voice raspy with sleep.

Okay, Sensible Stephanie didn't seem to be awake yet because it appeared that Stupid Stephanie was in charge, so I licked his skin again and before my tongue had even retreated into my mouth, Ranger's lips were on mine, his tongue silkily sliding over mine in a way that made me thankful that Sensible Stephanie was still asleep.

Ranger can multi-task, while his mouth was busy, his hands weren't exactly staying still. I could feel his fingers sliding the shoulder straps down on my tank top and his mouth was following the path that his fingers were trailblazing. Then his lips made a detour and found my breast. I could definitely live with detours like this. I seemed to have lost control of my body – it arched upwards of its own accord and Ranger took full advantage taking my nipple further into his mouth, sucking and gently nipping the taut peak.

I made a small mew of disappointment as he left my breast and started moving south. Oh so slowly, kissing and licking on his way down to my thigh. To my thigh? Hey he missed the target. I twisted a little in the hope that he would get the hint, but no he just moved on to the other thigh. Oh yes, he's moving upwards again. Bingo. I bucked but he hung on. I didn't know what to grab first the sheet or his head. I compromised, I grabbed the sheet with my hands and his head with my thighs. I could feel it starting, curling around my lower abdomen like a genie spiraling out of a bottle. I didn't need three wishes – all three of my wishes were about to come true. I could feel myself tightening up and oh my gosh I think my eyes rolled back into my head.

Ranger continued to suckle and nip and then started to lick as I slowly came back down to earth. I think I just had an out of body experience. Hey – where did my pajamas go? I had no memory of him taking them off or of him taking his underwear off. He must have because I could feel him sliding inside me. I was oh so tight after my orgasm and he took it slow. He felt so good. He started kissing my neck again – when did my neck become so sensitive?

I pulled my legs up and locked them around his waist and Ranger rocked into me. He pulled out oh so slowly and then gently slid back in. The intimacy and tenderness hit me like a revelation. This wasn't sex, he was making love. He was worshipping me and my body. I held on to him and turned my head slightly to kiss his cheek tenderly. Leaving my neck, he caught my lips in a searing kiss.

I was close. Ranger knew it and he sped up going deeper than I thought possible. Then with a hoarse whisper of 'Stephanie' I felt him release deep inside of me, the hot stream pushing me over the edge too, my heart beating faster than I thought possible.

Ranger rolled to his side with a sigh, pulling me with him and holding me close. The tenderness with which he kissed my lips nearly brought tears to my eyes. Dawn had come while we had been in our own piece of Heaven and I held his gaze and saw love in the depth of his eyes. Love, sadness and regret. Regret? Yes regret. Then it hit me. Morelli. God what have I done. The guilt washed over me like a tidal wave and brought tears in earnest to my eyes.

"Shhh, Babe. It's ok. Don't cry."

"But... Joe," I managed to sputter.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him and I won't be the one to tell him." With that he gathered me close and held me.

Was he right? Could I keep this secret from Joe? How would I feel if I found out that Joe had cheated on me? Am I being hypocritical by feeling that this is right, that this is where I should be right here, right now? The feeling of Ranger's arms wrapped around me, only confirmed my feeling that what had just happened between us, was meant to happen. Whether Ranger realized it or not he needed this; he needed to reach out to another human being. And I'm glad I was the one who gave him the comfort he needed, when he needed it the most. I don't know if I could have lived with the knowledge that someone else had given him such solace.

Yet, I had seen the regret in his eyes, and though I knew that he didn't regret that we had made love; he regretted the fact that our actions had brought us that much closer emotionally. But it had satisfied a craving in me, and as long as I was still with Joe and it never happened again, then Ranger was right, Joe need never know. Snuggling closer, I breathed in his musky scent and sighed peacefully.

Suddenly Ranger stiffened.

"Steph, there's someone at your door."

_Now you can return to Twelve Sharp – Chapter 14._

**End.**


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